Should Augusta National Golf Club president Billy Payne have criticized Tiger Woods?

APChairman of Augusta National Golf Club Billy Payne speaks during a news conference before the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the day before the Masters bagan, Augusta National Golf Club President Billy Payne made comments critical of Tiger Woods. Said Payne:

"Finally, we are not unaware of the significance of this week to a very special player, Tiger Woods. A man who in a brief 13 years clearly and emphatically proclaimed and proved his game to be worthy of the likes of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. As he ascended in our rankings of the world's great golfers, he became an example to our kids that success is directly attributable to hard work and effort.

"But as he now says himself, he forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility. It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grand kids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children. ... We at Augusta hope and pray that our great champion will begin his new life here tomorrow in a positive, hopeful and constructive manner, but this time, with a significant difference from the past."

"Remind me again why we are supposed to talk in reverent tones about the Masters. Because it stands for money and power and the exclusion of women and goodness knows what hidden messages in the public rebuking of “our hero,” who is part Thai and part African-American.

"Just asking, but would Payne have been so quick to deliver his little sermon to a white golfer who was caught straying? My guess is that some kind of double standard whacked Tiger Woods on the backswing. How dare he stray after all they’ve done for him?"

"George laid into Billy Payne with all the venom his computer could produce, which did not set well with me. ... It has been a territorial habit of big-city newspapers to aim their snappiest sneers at Augusta National. Why George Vecsey fell into the time-worn habit of Gotham troubadours dismays me.

Perhaps he found something sinister in this observation: "Our hero didn't live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children," Payne said. Or maybe he overlooked Tiger's own self-incrimination, though he has been speaking more of golf lately, than of his own despicable behavior."